(TNS) -- The coming year could be a pivotal one for the future of Michigan's power grid.

The state's dominant electric utilities -- DTE Energy and Consumers Energy -- are each racing to line up deals to serve power-hungry computing facilities undergirding artificial intelligence.

Those data centers could supercharge power demand in a way not seen in decades, causing some advocates to warn of inflated power bills for other customers as power companies spend big to upgrade the grid and build new power plants.

The debate will heat up next year as DTE and Consumers file their latest 20-year roadmaps, known as "integrated resource plans," showing how they'll meet demand, preserve reliability and comply with new Michigan clean energy requirements.

Regulators are already asking the public to help shape that planning process. An in-person public hearing is scheduled in Grand Rapids from 6-7:30 p.m. on Sept. 9 at Grand Valley State University's L.V. Eberhard Center, 301 W. Fulton St.

There, the Michigan Public Service Commission, the three-member body regulating utilities, advertises a chance to "have your say in Michigan's energy future."

While the utility plans themselves won't be unveiled until 2026, watchdogs keeping an eye out for ratepayers' wallets say their customers should pay attention.

They're supposed to ensure "the most cost-effective" power supply mix to meet projected needs, said Amy Bandyk, executive director of the nonprofit Citizens Utility Board of Michigan, but for-profit utilities also have an incentive to pursue a mix that includes capital investments that generate a return for shareholders at ratepayer expense.

"In usual times, the IRP is already very important for determining if our energy is going to be affordable for years to come. But these are unusual times with both DTE and Consumers looking at signing contracts with data centers that will drastically accelerate load growth," she said.

In a recent call with investors, Consumers CEO Garrick Rochow said the utility had inked a deal to serve a data center adding up to 1 gigawatt of additional demand, likely toward the end of the decade. For context, its peak load across the Lower Peninsula is now just over 7.5 gigawatts, making the addition a sizeable one.

Consumers has not disclosed the location or company behind the project. It also has a "conservative" potential pipeline of other data centers and manufacturers it is looking to add that could amount to 9 gigawatts of new demand, Rochow said.

Meanwhile, DTE is in "advanced discussions" with multiple "hyperscalers" proposing data centers totaling 3 gigawatts of new load, Chief Operating Officer Joi Harris told investors in late July.

The large cloud computing providers whose facilities, consuming up to 50 times more energy than a typical office building, could eat up 1 gigawatt of excess capacity DTE has right now, Harris said, requiring a buildout of new grid-sized batteries and, eventually, new natural gas-fired power plants.

DTE hopes to close a data center deal by the end of the year and is in "ongoing discussions" with more tech companies earlier in their development processes potentially bringing an additional 4 gigawatts of demand, she said.

The upcoming round of integrated resource plans will be the venues in which the utilities reveal how they plan to meet their projected demand, previewing the costs involved.

They will also require the power companies to disclose plans to comply with standards Democrats passed in 2023 requiring utilities transition to 100% "clean" energy by 2040.

Under the law, utilities may rely on power plants that run on natural gas, a fossil fuel whose emissions contribute to climate change when burned, if they have carbon capture and sequestration technology.

But those systems don't have a strong track record of cost-effectiveness, meaning they'll be scrutinized by consumer advocates if proposed, Bandyk said.

Some advocates also worry costs to serve data centers, like upgraded transmission lines or new power plants, could burden other ratepayers, especially if their demand projections don't pan out or if they close sooner than expected. Consumers is currently seeking approval to tweak a power rate used for the facilities, which it says includes safeguards to mitigate the concerns.

DTE executives told investors initial data center deals could help boost affordability for other customers, as DTE won't need much additional investment to handle them.

But environmental groups in Michigan have been wary of utilities hyping new data center agreements.

They say a quick increase in power demand could push utilities to seek "off-ramps" from state clean and renewable energy requirements, pointing to examples in other states. DTE and Consumers push back, saying they continue to roll out renewables and their integrated resource plans will show how they will continue to meet state goals.

"Not only is this load expansion leading to a failure to hit climate targets, there is also a real risk this could saddle communities with assets that we don't need, likely that would be fossil fuels," said Bryan Smigielski, Michigan campaign organizer with the Sierra Club, who warned the data center industry could prove highly speculative.

Michigan regulators should carefully evaluate this demand as a discrete aspect of the integrated resource planning process, he said. "When one data center can add the load of a mid-sized city, we need to see exactly how that changes the resource mix ... the kind of new (power) plants and especially the rate impacts by each customer class."

Regulators said the September hearing in Grand Rapids will help inform such "planning parameters" for evaluating the roadmaps filed next year.

That includes a wide range of issues beyond data center demand, including how much power will be needed by electric vehicles and homes that switch to electric heat pumps for space heating and cooling, officials say.

Other topics addressed will be the expected cost of natural gas to fuel power plans, how utilities meet environmental standards and how fast technologies like rooftop solar will be adopted in the state. The plans also address programs to increase energy efficiency and flex power demand to reduce grid stress.

In past plans, DTE and Consumers have also made major commitments around transitioning to cleaner power sources, like agreeing to expedited timelines to close aging and dirty coal-fired power plants.

Regulators plan additional public hearings in other parts of the state, but details have not yet been announced, according to Public Service Commission spokesperson Matt Helms.

The integrated resource plans are subject to a legal process before the commission that involves public input and scrutiny from consumer, environmental and business groups ahead of approval. Consumers is expected to file its next plan in mid-2026, with DTE following suit by the end of the year.

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